Baltic Event Co-Production Market
Milk Teeth
In the spring of 1989, the news of a horrible murder terrifies a small town in Romania: the body of a little girl who had gone missing several days earlier is found scattered all over the area. The two police officers called in to conduct the investigation gradually move from searching simple people’s homes, to abattoirs and interrogating mentally challenged suspects, gradually uncovering a latent strain of evil buried within the secrets of a community consumed by silence and fear.
I accidentally came across the story of Alina Lucaci, while reading the Romanian press from the early 2000s, while documenting another subject. On one page of a local newspaper, I saw the photograph of an elderly woman, her lost gaze staring into the camera lens. She was the little girl’s mother, Cezaria. In 2003, when the interview was made, the woman was still waiting to find out who had killed her child and why. As the father of two children, I felt some of her anger and despair.
The moment coincided with a time of major changes I was undergoing at the time. I had just become the father of a little girl, while my son, then aged seven, was becoming increasingly independent: he would go out to the park with his friends alone, go shopping or to school alone. The thought that you can see your child going out the front door, on a day like any other, only to never see him or her again after that moment, triggered the idea to write 'Milk Teeth'.
Mihai Mincan graduated from the University of Philosophy in Bucharest in 2002. He followed with an MBA degree, from the University of Poitiers, France. Since 2004, he’s been a journalist at the most important newspapers in Romania. In 2008, he wrote his first script for a short film, ”The Palm Lines”, directed by George Chiper - Lillemark, selected in film festivals such as Locarno, Rotterdam, Cottbus. Since then, Mihai wrote and directed shorts and documentaries such as the short “Alaska”, was included in the omnibus “Love Bus”, released in Romanian cinemas in 2014, and the short “The Comet”, selected to Film Fest Gent in 2017. In 2019, “Emigrant Blues” premiered at Transylvania IFF, and ”The Man Who Would Be Free” premiered at Astra Film Festival. In 2020, the short ”Idyll” was selected to Transylvania IFF.
Ioana Lascăr graduated with a BA in Cinematography, Photography and Media from Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, MA in Film Production from UNATC ‘I.L. Caragiale’ in Bucharest and is an Associate Professor in charge of the Film Production & Marketing classes at Babes-Bolyai University. She started off by producing her colleagues’ shorts while still in film school, but drifted into the real world after accessing public funds for various projects. She’s producing at deFilm since 2014 and her educational and professional portfolio includes shorts, animations, documentaries and features selected in festivals like Karlovy Vary, Locarno, San Sebastian, Warsaw. Ioana is alumna of several programs including CEE Animation Workshop, APostLab and EAVE Marketing Workshop.
Radu Stancu is a Romanian film producer, owner of independent production company deFilm. He studied film production, film editing and sound design at the Film University in Bucharest (UNATC) and is alumni of Making Waves, EAVE Producer’s Workshop, EAVE Ties That Bind, EAVE Marketing Workshop. He engaged in an array of cinematic productions, short and feature-length, ranging from fiction or animation to documentary, that were presented and awarded in film festivals such as Cannes, Locarno, Karlovy Vary, AFI, Curtas Vila do Conde, Namur, Brest, Cottbus and others.
deFilm is a Bucharest-based production company founded in 2009. While we started by producing independent shorts that were met with international success, the company has in time developed steadily to embrace a diverse portfolio and a growing network of partners as well as financing resources. We engage in all types of cinematic productions, welcoming diverse approaches and styles that take on the creative stakes that match our values and interests. We enjoy growing together with filmmakers that we can build long-lasting relationships with. Accolades for our work so far include selections or prizes in major international film festivals, such as Cannes, Locarno or Karlovy Vary.